iRacing 24h Nürburgring 2020 Review

It was a very frustrating weekend for CoRe SimRacing at the 2020 iRacing Nürburgring 24 Hours special event. The GT4 squad behind CoRe’s Porsche Cayman including Sindre Setsaas, Carl Jansson, Matti Sipilä, Samuel Libeert and Pascal Stix expected a different outcome in this endurance race – especially after a flawless and dominant performance in the first two thirds of the event.

The team showed great pace and performance at the early stages of the race already. Carl qualified the team’s GT4 machine onto the pole position and started the squad’s journey into the long 24 hours race. A great gap and lead was pulled off in the first several hours after the team’s drivers, Sindre, Matti and Samuel, taken over for their stints after Carl’s start. The late evening and crucial night stints, which have to be handled pretty safe and cautious aswell, were mastered flawless by all drivers – it seemed to be a straight forward race for CoRe at the Nordschleife who already had good experience due to the Digital Langstrecken Series. But unexpected havoc happened in the morning the next day.

Matti took the jump at Pflanzgarten 1 touching the outside curb at the following turn-in which made the car unsettle. The result was an impact into the tyre barrier in front causing a moderate repair time in the pits. The lead was lost – but luckily the race could be continued. Nevertheless, the fight back to the lead and the hopes for a win were ended abruptly. Carl, who was in the car that time, experienced a wheel hardware issue. The car was sent into the armco at the Döttinger Höhe and the repair time due to that rather questionable incident was high. The team fell down to P6 and as tough as it already was to swallow, the 6th position was the maximum the team could achieve due to the lost time. The broadcast of this race can be found here : [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4]